Paul Quinn mulls over Hibs contract offer

ANTHONY BROWN

Hibs are waiting to learn if they have been successful in their bid to sign Paul Quinn.

The Easter Road club have made a contract offer to the former Motherwell, Cardiff and Doncaster defender, who arrived at East Mains on trial last week. The 29-year-old, who has been a free agent since leaving Doncaster at the end of last season, is mulling over whether or not to accept the deal.

“We’ve made an offer which he’s contemplating so hopefully we’ll know one way or the other over the next 24 hours what’s happening with him,” Hibs head coach Alan Stubbs told the Evening News.

Quinn, a former Motherwell captain, is predominantly a right-back, but can also play centre-back.

If signed in time, he could come into contention for a debut this weekend, with defender Liam Fontaine’s thigh injury making him a doubt for the Championship clash away to Livingston this Saturday teatime.

“We’re still not sure about Liam – it’s too early to say,” said Stubbs. “We’ll have to assess him a bit closer to the game. He’s getting treatment and we’ll see how he responds to it.”

As things stand, Fontaine’s absence would leave Jordon Forster and Paul Hanlon as the only two senior centre-backs available to Stubbs, meaning the head coach would have to ponder ditching the 3-5-2 formation which he has deployed in Hibs’ last four games in favour of a more conventional back four. “We’ll see what we’ve got available and go with what we think is best,” he said.

“We’re not necessarily going to play three at the back every week. We’ll just see what we’ve got at our disposal and take it from there.”